Cisco, Caterpillar: After-Hours Trading

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Shares of Cisco Systems (CSCO) were inching up in after-hours action on Friday after the technology giant announced it would start paying a dividend for the first time in company history.

Cisco's board of directors approved a plan to issue quarterly cash dividends, beginning with a payment of 6 cents a share.

Shareholders of record as of March 31 will receive the payment on April 20.

"This dividend complements our leading position, and is an important part of our commitment to bring value to shareholders," CFO Frank Calderoni said in a statement.

Shares of Caterpillar (CAT) were slipping in after-hours trading following an announcement from the manufacturing company warning that it may continue to see global production delays related to the current emergency situation in Japan.

It said its facilities in Tokyo, Akashi and Sagami "were not damaged by the earthquake," but that the crisis in Japan is "having some impact on production," after the nation was rocked by a devastating earthquake last week.

"The disruption to the supply chain in Japan has not stopped production at other Caterpillar facilities around the world; although moving forward, it is possible those facilities may be sporadically impacted as a result of the situation in Japan," the company said in a statement on Friday.

Caterpillar shares rose 1.9% to close at $105.06 on Friday. The stock saw heavy volume of 11.48 million throughout the day, compared to the stock's average daily volume of 6.27 million.

Shares of Nexxus Lighting (NEXS) were climbing more than 1% in after-hours trading after the company announced that its Array brand of premium LED light bulbs will be offered on Lowes.com and in 1,100 Lowe's (LOW) stores across the nation.

Volume surged on Friday as more than 4.4 million shares of traded hands compared with the stock's average three-month volume of 75,394 shares.

The stock closed up 53.28% at $3.97 and was gaining about 1%, or 4 cents, in after-hours to $4.01.

-- Written by Theresa McCabe in Boston.



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